Indoor Climbing

The club typically meets at one of Oxford's indoor walls two or three times a week to climb as a group. You don't need to have climbed much, or even at all, to come along; climbing is a sport where you set your own limits, and these sessions can be as laid back or intense as you're feeling on the day.

These sessions represent a good opportunity for beginners to learn basic climbing skills from more experienced club members. The wall at the Oxford Brookes sport centre offers top rope and lead climbing, as well as burly boulder problems, and is a more welcoming venue for beginners. The club's own bouldering wall at Iffley is a great place to train your climbing technique, a truly unique facility and not to be missed! (Note - you must be an OUMC member to use the Iffley wall). Once you are member, entry to the wall is free. Check out the Facebook or Chat Page to see what people are planning, or to find somebody to climb with.

Brookes Climbing Wall

The Oxford Brookes University Sports Centre offers the only lead or top-rope climbing in the Oxford area (unless you're tempted to venture to the far-superior Reading wall). A good place to try out climbing in a relatively safe environment, or to push your grade and keep in shape between outdoor meets. Vital techniques, such as belaying and clipping gear, can also be practiced here if you're keen to move your climbing outdoors. There's also a dedicated bouldering area; the quality of the problems varies, but are often useful for building strength.

In term time, our lovely Gear Reps will bring the club gear, including shoes, harnesses, and belay plates, to all official sessions at Brookes. Official club sessions take place here on Tuesdays and some Thursdays - keep an eye on the Termcard.

Iffley Bouldering Wall

Opened in 1979, Iffley is a truly historic wall that has has lost none of its charm and character. Consisting of rock holds (yes, real rock) cemented into a brick wall in a corridor of the Oxford University sport centre, the 400+ problems set by numerous Iffley boulderers provide a wide range of potential projects and an excellent training ground for the more technical aspects of rock climbing. Though climbing at Iffley can feel hard at first (we all occasionally fail to get off the ground), a little persistence will be rewarded with a genuinely exceptional experience.

Iffley is out of action!!// Due to building at the Sports Centre, the bouldering wall is not in use. Keep an eye on your emails for updates.

This wall is free to use and exclusively for use by OUMC members - just hand over your membership card at the reception desk for access to the bouldering mat cupboard. The largest gatherings here are on Monday evenings, often followed up with beer, confectionery and climbing chatter in the Fir Tree pub across the road. The Gear Reps will bring a selection of climbing shoes for club members to borrow at Monday sessions. For information about opening times, check the Oxford University Sport website.

The previous (8th) edition of the Iffley guidebook is available to download.